интересные подробности

Only last week, a full month into the crisis, did the administration call a high-level briefing for the foreign press, and as a damage-limitation exercise the four-hour discussion was a failure. Mr Putin, said the anonymous official, knew that the affair was bad for the economy and did not want to undo privatisations. But he would not explain why the president does not say so publicly (insisting weakly that he has done so several times privately). He could not explain who was behind the attack. He said repeatedly that the Kremlin has “no formal influence” over prosecutors, but avoided the question of why it cannot, or will not, use informal influence [...]